Method and apparatus for treating sewage



Dec. 2 5, 1945. J. D. WALKER 2,391,494 I METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING SEWGES l Filed Deo. 1:5, 1939 .ilMl.

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 25, 1945 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING SEWAGE James D. Walker, Aurora, Ill., assis-nor to The -American Well Works, Aurora,'lll., a corporation of Illinois Application There are two well known methods for the con- ;inuous treatment of sewage. One is the trlckling` Y i lter method, in which the sewage ows through a porous bed at a slow speed and the solid par-v ticles gather on the stones or other elements of diffusing air through the mixturev or by suitably agitating the mixture in the presence of air, or both, the sludge forming in suspension and being carried out to a settling .tank where it is settled and drawn off at the bottom of the tank. The activated sludge process, as this process is broadly known, has been generally recognized as more thorough than the trlckling filter process. Roughly, it might be stated that the activated sludge process removes up to about 98% of the impurities er solids, while the triekiing inter process only removes about 80%. For this and other reasons the activated sludge process has been considered the most desirable where its use is prac- ,ticable.

'I'he activated sludge process, however, has one serious drawback, which is'that it is easily upset by a shock load. The activated sludge process requires a delicate balance. Ii an activated sludge December is, 193s, sei-isi No. 309,049

7 claims. (ci. zio-5) possible 80%. The surprising fact is that only one-ith of the volume of ltering medium is required to remove about 50% oi the organic load. and', when this has been removed, less than half of the aeration tank capacity is required, as if the trlckling iilter had not been used. t

Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and from the drawing, in which: The gure is a diagrammatic representation of one form of apparatus in which this invention might be embodied and in which the process of this invention might be practiced.

A preferred form of the invention has been chosen for illustration and description, in compliance with section 4888 oi the Revised Statutes. but persons skilled in the art will readily perceive other means for accomplishing the same results.

In the diagrammatic representation found in the drawing oi the embodiment oi this invention chosen for illustration, the sewage enters the plant through a pipe represented by the line or arrow Il. According to conventional practice the sewage is iirst subjected to primary treatment,

represented by thetank I2. The primary treatment usually includes screening, and holding the sewage in a quiescent state long enough to settle the solid particles which will settle readily without treatment. Such solid particles, comprising the primary waste sludge, are drawn ott at I3 and usually pumped to the digester. The primary tank is suddenly subjected 'to a shock load, either in the nature of greatly increased volume of sewage or 'amuch larger proportion of a type of sewage which is difficult to handle, such as certain industrial wastes, the balance might thrown oil completely, with the result that the process would be almost completely disrupted, the sewage ilowing out of the tank substantially untreated and carrying of! the bacterial agents which are necessary to the process. According to the present invention the vadvantage of thorough 'treatment of the activated process is obtained without this disadvantage of being easilyupset by combining with the aeration step a preliminary step in which the sewage is treated by the trlckling illter process. In -spite of this apparent duplication, economy is obtained by making both the trlckling lter and the activated sludge tanks smaller than would be' necessary if either one were used alone. The trlckling .nlter bed, for example,tmay have only enough stone or other iiltering medium therein to remove about 50% of the organic load or solid matter instead oi its' treatment may also include other treatments, such as grease removal, but it does not-ordinarily include any intensive biological treatment of the sewage. The eiliuent from which the primary sludge has been removed is drawn of! at I4 and iiows to the secondary treatment system of the plant. The chief purpose of the secondary treatment is to remove from the liquid the colloidally suspended or dissolved impurities or s olid particles which do not settle during the primary treatment... It has been found that the best way of accomplishing this result is to bring the fluid in contact with substances bearing certain living organisms, particularly various kinds of aerobic protozoa and bacteria. As a result of such treatment the minute' particles and dissolved impurities are absorbed and removed from the carrying water by the suspended agents and with them form larger masses which are capable of settling out.

According tothe present invention the effluent from Il is iirst ilowe'd through a trlckling lter I6.. This trlckling iilter comprises a tank having therein 'a iiltering medium such as stone to which cling sponge-likeor gelatinous growths of bacteria (zoogloea) and other organisms which are vital to the secondary treatment process. A Such lters are well known in the industry and need not be described in detail. One form is described in Jenks Patent No. 2,168,208 in commotion with a recirculating system which need not be used here. in Sewerage and Sewage Disposalhy Metcalf and Eddy, particularly pages 590 and 603. The eiiiuent from I4 is generally fed to the trickling illter I6 by some means for obtaining a uniform but intermittent distribution, such as a rotating sprinkler I1.` through the trickling filter I6, a large proportion of the minute solid particles becomes attached to the growths and,` infact, due to the action 'of the bacteria, becomes a part of the growths. As the growths are built up, they willoccasionally become large enough to slough off and will ilow with the sewage through the pipe indicated by the line or arrow I8 to a settling tank I9. Here the sew"- age is maintained sufficiently quiescent for the growths or sludge to settle out. This sludge is drawn oif at 2| and usually taken to the digester while the remaining eiiiuent is drawn of! at 22.

According to ordinary uses of trickling filters heretofore this marked the end of the removal Vof impurities and solid matter from the sewage, the eiiiuent from this settling being run into a stream or lake. Accordingly, it was usually necessary to design the trickling filter to provide enough stone in comparison with the volume of sewage to remove a high percentage of the impurities and solid matter. Even with relatively large and deep trickling iilters, only about 80% of the total of the impurities were removed and, accordingly, the aeration or activated sludge process has been used in recent years whenever it was deemed practicable.

According to the present invention the system is intentionally designed with a relatively small amount of stone in the trickling filter so that the eiliuent drawn o at 22 from the tank I9 may have only about 50% of the total impurities removed therefrom. This permits a greater reduction in the size of the trickling illter than would be supposed from a comparison of the percentages because of the fact that the iilter becomes less and v less eiicient as the removal approaches the 80% point. In short, the relatively small trickling lter contemplated by this invention might be Isaid to be the eilicient portion of the lter; while the ineilici'ent portion is omitted.

According to this invention the eifluent from the settling tank I9 flows to the aeration or activated sludge tank 23. Here it maybe treated according to any of the well known activated sludge or aeration processes, as described, for example, in the Metcalf and Eddy book previously mentioned, particularly beginning at page 636. Both'this and the filtering process are also described in Encyclopaedia Britannica under Sewage Disposal. These areation processes are well known and need not be further described here for those who are acquainted with the ,art of sewage disposal. For the sake of those who are not acquainted with it, however, it may be noted that the aeration or activated sludge processesv resemble the iiltering process already described with the chief exception that the bacteria growths, here called ilocs, are of a small sponge- ,like character which, instead of being xedv to the stones of a iilter, are carried in suspension As the sewage flows gently in the sewage being treated, and there is a better Much more detailed infomation is given supply of air than is usually provided with trickling filters. A'.li'he ilocsare kept in suspension by agitation, which also serves to move the ilocs through the sewage so that they have repeated intimate contact with all portions thereof. In addition to their biological function or in aid of this function, these sponge-iike ocs comprise in eifect a illter which is carried through the sewage instead of carrying the sewage through a filter. A large quantity of oxygen is required to support the4 life of the bacteria and other living organisms Acomprising the fiocs and also t'o oxidize the nitrites and other material in the sewage. Sometimes air is dispersed at the bottom of the tank to simultaneously supply the oxygen and gently agitate the fluid in the tank. Other times the agitation is of a mechanical type which is designed to either draw air in from the surface or help mix air .which is bled into the point of agitation.

As a result of the. action in the aeration or activated sludge tank 23, substantially all of the remainingl impurities (approximately 95% to 98% of the total originally present in the sewage) are coagulated or absorbed to form ilocs which will settle to the bottom when permitted to do so. 'Ihis is accomplished by flowing the mixture from the aeration tank 23 to a final settling tank 24 where the sewage is maintained in a relatively quiescent state. From, this tank the sludge is drawn olf at 26, and the final effluent flows off at 21, The final eilluent is called the plant eilluent and usually flows into a stream or lake, being i-n the form of a clear and relatively harmless liquid. One advantage of the aeration or activated sludge process is that it even removes most of the pathogenic bacteria originally present in the sewage,

40 be disinfe-Cted.

A portion of the activated sludge which is removed at 29 is returned at 28 to be mixed with the sludge passing from the settling tank I9 to the aeration tank 23, since the presence of a large proportion of this activated sludge is necessary to the activated sludge process. Some of it is preferably also returned at 29 to be mixed with the sludge owing from the primary treatment unit l2 to the trickling filter I6. It is essential .for high speed continuous operation of the activated sludge process to supply activated. or return sludge to the aeration tank as shown at 28 since there is nothing to maintain the ilocs at a given point and they would otherwise be carried away from the entrance portion of the tank and ultimately trom the entire tank. In the case of the trickling filter, however, the biological growths are attached to the stones of the iilter and hence would not be carried away. The return of sludge at 29 is therefore optional, It speeds up the initial seeding of a fresh filter and may speed up treatment thereafter. Another advantage is that the activated sludge which is retur-ned at 29 tends to buildup the iiocs in the trickling filter which break oif and produce more sludge in the iirst settling tank I9 than if sludge were not returned at 29. This sludge is much more dense than the activated sludge from the settling tank 24 and is therefore much more suitable for disposal in the digester. Because of its much smaller water content. it causes much lesssupernatant liquor from the digester to be displaced back into the treatment system. A flow control box 3| or suitable valves may be provided for regulating the return oi' the sludge at 28 and at 29. The sludge the variations at Il.

` cient for the first 50% volumetric capacity which is not returned is carried off at 32 in the form of waste sludge, which is usually taken to filter 1li but are freely suspended and capable of f being washed away in the aeration tank 234s the key to one of the greatest -advantages obtained by combining the trlckling'fllter and the aeration or activated sludge process in the manner described. The activated sludge process requires a delicate balance for greatest efficiency. Shock sewage loads may disrupt this balance to such an extent impaired. In effect, the necessary flocs may be largely washed away. The tricklingfilter, on the other hand, cannot readily be upset since the biological growths are attached to the stones. Accordingly-when any shock load is imposed upon the system at Il, this load is effectively treated by the trickling filter i6, and the variations at 22 will be much smallerA in quantity or quality than In short, the shock nature of the load will be removed so that the sewage can be effectively treated by the aeration'tank 23.

In a trickling filter plant the best result expected is the removal of 80% of the impurities. In an activated sludge plant, although`95% to 98% of the impurities would normally be removed, a shock load would so decrease the efiiciency as to render the havce been considered impractical under some conditions. According to this invention, however, in which the activated sludge process is preceded by the efficient portion of the trickling uiteiprocess, the best results of the activated sludge processes are normally obtained and the complete upsetting of the activated sludge unit is almost entirely prevented. Furthermore, even if that the efiiciency is very greatly plant entirely unsatis-` factory. For-this reason activated sludge plantsl signed from seriouslyv upsetting the aeration unit makes practical the use of this invention under conditions which would otherwise require such a large and expensive aeration unit as to make the aeration or activated sludge process prohibitive in cost.

Even under normal conditions a great saving is effected by this combination of lter and aeration. When a filter is used alone, state boards of health require from 120to 165 cubic feet of filter media for -a given unit of organic sewage load. To remove only of the unit organic load with the filter, only 15 cubic feet of media are required, the filter being much more eilithan later. Although I cubic feet of media per i. eyper one pound of 5 day B. O. D. (biochemical oxygen demand) per 24 hours, to provide a margin of safety, this .is still only 1/8 -to l/4 that required for complete treatment by the filter (80% to 85% removal); nor is this gain lost in the aeration tank, for the aeration tank will lremove substantially all of the remaining 50% with less than one-half of the that would be required if the aeration tank were used alone.

It is not necessary to go into the theory which prefer to use 20 or 30 unit load,

results in this surprising fact. One contributing consideration is that the aeration process appears to remove the last half4 of the organic load as efficiently as it would the first half and gets the benefit of having half of the work done. It'gets a further benefit of having asubstantial supply of oxygen because of passing through the trickling filter. The trickling filter supplies .to the activated sludge tank a fresh relatively weak sewage containing a good. supply of dissolved oxygen and this is the ideal nature of sewage for the activated` sludge processto handle.

One important advantage of this invention is that it lends itself admirably toremedyin'g' the defects of an activated sludge plant which is not functioning properly because of overloadingor a type of' load, such as milk wastes or dye plant wastes, which it cannot well handle. It has been found that usually all that is necessary to make the plant entirely satisfactory is to insert into the system prior to the activated sludge treatment a relatively small trickling filter -which converts the system into the plant described in this application even though the activated sludge unit may be larger than would be necessary if full use of the present invention were made.

Since the -trickling filter contemplated by this invention is designed to half-treat the sewage and since the volume of sewage may be' fairly large, it will usually be preferred to use a, trickling filter of a relatively large area and shallow depth. Thus, instead of using the conventional 6 to- 10 feet, the trickling filter may be only -3 feet deep. Of course, under special circumstances a greater depth may be desirable.

Although the. invention has been described with a settling tank. lli'between the trickling y filter and the aeration tank, this is not neces- As a matter of fact, the sludge which flows from the trickling filter into the activated sludge tank, if no settling tank is used, is useful in the activated sludge process.

Although settling tanks have here been described, it should be understood that any unit for separating the sludge from the eiliuent could be used. Such a unit might comprise a centrifugal separator or a filter, such as those known as magnetic sand filters.

From the foregoing it is` seen that a sewage disposal process and combination apparatus for performing such a process has been devised, which combines exceptionally well the requirements of efiiciency. high percentage of removal of impurities, and ability to withstand shock loads.

I claim:

1. The process of treating sewage which includes the steps of flowing the sewage in extensive contact with the alr and through a trickling lter, settling the sewage from the trickling filter, removing the settled sludge from the liquid of the sewage, passing this liquid into an activated sludge aeration tank and aerating it by an activated sludge sewage treatment, again removingsludge from the sewage, 4and returning some of this sludge to the sewage to be treated by the activated sludge treatment.

2. Apparatus-for treating sewage, including a already dissolved in the sewage.

means for substantially continuously returning sludge from the sludge removing means to the trickling filter and to the aeration tank at will.

3. The process of treating sewage which includes the steps of flowing l the sewage in an aerated condition in contact with aerobic bacterial slimes clinging to stationary members, subsequently treating said sewage by an activated sludge process in an aeration tank, separating sludge from the liquid portion of the sewage thus treated, returning some ofthe sludge to the sewage about to be treated by the activated sludge treatment, returning some of the sludge substantially continuously to the sewage to be treated in contact with said slimes, removing sludge from the sewage between the two treatments and discharging it from the process.

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4. Apparatus for treating sewage which ln- `cludes a tank, stationary members in the tank,

means for aerating the sewage and flowing it in aerated condition in contact with aerobic bacterial slimes clinging to said stationary members, an aeration tank for subsequently treating said sewage by an activated sludge process, aerating means in said tank, means for leading sewage from said first named tank to said aeration tank, means for separating sludge from the liquid portion of the sewage thus treated, means for returning some of the sludge to the sewage about to be treated by the activated sludge treatment, and for returning some of the sludge substantially ,continuously to thesewage to be treated in contact with said slimes and means for removing sludge from the sewage between the two treatments and discharging it from the apparatus.

5. Apparatus for treating sewage, including a trickling filter, an activated sludge aeration tank, aerating means in said tank, means for leading effluent from the trickling filter to the aeration tank, means for removing sludge from the sew-- age which has been treated in the aeration tank and means for substantially continuously returning sludge from the sludge'removing means to the trickling filter and to the aeration tank at will, said apparatus being designed Ito treat with conventional completeness a given load of sewvaaah-194 age and said tricklin'g filter being substantially less than one half the size conventional for treating said load entirely by a trickling filter and said aeration tank having a volumetric capacity approximately as small as one half that conventional for treating said load of sewage entirely by the activated sludge process.

6. Apparatus for treating sewage, designed to, treat with conventional completeness a given load of sewage expressed in five-day biochemical oxygen demand for 24 hours, including a trickling filter substantially less than one-half the size conventional for treating said load entirely by a trickling filter, having approximately 15 to 30 cubic feet of filtering media for each pound of said five-day biochemical oxygen demand for 24 hours, means for removing sludge from the trickling` filter effluent. and an activated sludge aeration tank having aeration means therein, means for leading the eilluent from which the sludge has been removed to the aeration tank to be treated by activated biological agents in suspension thereinsaid aeration tank having a volumetric capacity of not over approximately onehali that conventional for treating said load of sewage entirely by the activated sludge process.

7. Apparatus for treating sewage, designed to treat withconventional completeness a given load of sewage expressed in five-day biochemical oxygen demand for 24 hours, including a trickling filter substantially less than one-half the size conventional Vfor treating said vload entirely by a trickling filter, having not yover 30 cubic feet of filtering media for each pound of said five-day .biochemical oxygen demand for 24 hoursmeans for removing sludge from the trickling .filter effluent, and an activated sludge aeration tank having aeration'means therein, means for leading the effluent from which the sludge has been removed to the aerationtank to be treated by activated biological agents in suspension therein, said aeration tank having a volumetric capacity of not over approximately one-half that conventional for treating said load of sewage entirely by the activated sludge process.

JAMES D. WALKER 

